Connection Through Culture
BrisAsia Festival returns from 1-19 February 2023 to celebrate Lunar New Year. What better way to kick start your year than to connect with culture at BrisAsia Festival, with something on offer for the whole family.
Over the three weeks audiences can experience the transformative power of live performance, learn and grow through immersive experiences and travel the length and breadth of Asia across the incredibly packed festival program that has something for everyone.
Read on for the festival highlights, and visit the Brisbane City Council website for the full BrisAsia Festival program.
BrisAsia Launch Party
Friday 3 February, 6pm – late | The Fortitude Music Hall, Fortitude Valley
Celebrate the start of BrisAsia 2023 in style with a cultural spectacular full of light, colour and movement. Party from 6pm ’til late at the iconic Fortitude Music Hall and enjoy feature performances by renowned Mongolian musician & The Voice Australia star Bukhu, Sydney-based KPOP DJ Nick Kim, hip hop stars East Mode, an interplanetary evocation by Indian fusion singer Menaka, Lion dancers, martial art displays and a special appearance by glam drag queen Crimson Coco. Experience the Joy that is BrisAsia Festival at the LAUNCH PARTY spectacular! Lucky Door Prizes to be won.
Free, 18+, bookings required.
Wabi-Sabi Live Performance
Friday 10 February, 6pm – 7pm | Turbine Platform, Brisbane Powerhouse
BrisAsia LIVE, Brisbane’s premier intercultural creative residency, explores dynamic perspectives on interdisciplinary art-making, creative expression and cultural knowledge sharing. This year’s residency explores the traditional Japanese philosophy of aesthetics known as Wabi-sabi—a creative world view centred in the acceptance of transience and imperfection. Renowned Mongolian musician Bukhu, Japanese-Australian visual artist Elysha Rei, Tibetan Musician Tenzin Choegyal, Japanese pianist, composer and performance artist Momo Hamada, Fijian-Indian producer, DJ & tabla musician Sai and program director guitarist/composer Dr Anthony Garcia will explore the mediums of live improvised music, visual and performance art & installation.
Free, all ages, bookings required.
Summer Party
Friday 10 February, 5.30pm – 9pm | South Bank Piazza
Watch Brisbane night light up as we celebrate Asian pop-culture like never before! Summer Party delivers a night of lights, action and high-energy music to celebrate contemporary Asian popular culture and urban life in our big city. Taking the music out of the clubs and onto the street, Summer Party brings the bubbles and bounce to our city’s public spaces for a mega night of Asian pop and electronic music. Dance your night away at this longest youth party where Asian pop culture and the art of Cosplay fuse for an eclectic celebration.
Free, all ages, no bookings required.
BrisAsia Dance
Saturday 11 February, 12pm – 5pm | Vent Space, 23 Glenelg St, South Brisbane
Sunday 12 February, 3pm – 6pm | Queen Street Mall
Grab your best dancing shoes and take to the streets for BrisAsia Dance, Brisbane’s freshest street dance event. This free, dance-focused program aims to unify and provide an opportunity for vibrant local dance communities to perform in a safe, ‘socially dis-danced’ environment.
Free, all ages, no bookings required.
World Kitchen: Mother’s Table
Sunday 5 February, 12pm – 2pm | Brisbane Square Library
World Kitchen returns for a special BrisAsia Festival addition to celebrate the launch of Mother’s Table Season Two. The digital docuseries Mother’s Table shares intimate stories about Brisbane’s local Asian restauranteurs, their heritage, culture and family histories. This special event will include a premier showing of the season two documentary, a panel discussion with director Lark Lee and restauranteurs Gurinder Singh from Curry n’ Cask, Mutita Photong from the Tuk Tuk Restaurant & Bar and Woncheon Jeong & Sangdeok Suh from the The Charcoal BBQ House. This discussion will be chaired by ABC presenter Ashwin Segkar and followed by a food demonstration and tasting. Meet the people changing the face of Brisbane’s culinary culture and enjoy a live performance by sitar virtuoso Sudha Manian.
Free, all ages, bookings required.
Soul Gazing: A Sonic Journey through the Cosmic Skydome
Saturday 4 February, 6pm – 6.30pm | Sir Thomas Brisbane Planetarium Mt Coot-tha
Wednesday 8 February, 1pm – 1.30pm | Sir Thomas Brisbane Planetarium Mt Coot-tha
Sunday 12 February, 3pm – 3. 30pm | Sir Thomas Brisbane Planetarium Mt Coot-tha
Art meets science in this immersive multidisciplinary experience blending ancient Sanskrit poetry, narration and music with spectacular digital imagery from the Cosmic Skydome. The collaboration between Indian fusion singer Menaka, producer/DJ Sai Ishan Chand and astronomers from Sir Thomas Brisbane Planetarium explores universal themes of place, culture, belonging and meaning.
Tickets: $20 Adult $15 Concession, all ages, bookings required.
Rare Voices at SunPAC
Saturday 18 February, 7.30pm – 9pm | SunPAC, 470 McCullough St, Sunnybank
Experience a transcendent evening of vocal artistry by some of Brisbane best Asian singers. Rare Voices will feature Chinese virtuoso folk singer Zi Wang with her new ensemble 林钟 (G in Forest) and rising local Sufi star Parminder Singh and Filipino OPM singer Liz Conde presenting intimate traditional songs, pulsating world rhythms, contemporary popular music and hypnotic collective improvisations accompanied by virtuoso instrumentalists from across the Asian region.
Tickets: $15 Adult $10 Concession, all ages, bookings required.
Southside by Night
Friday 17 February, 5pm – 9pm | Unidos Community Centre, 204 Sherbrooke Rd, Willawong
Southside by Night is back for another year. Brisbane’s hottest cars, the city’s top artists and authentic street food, we’re celebrating another year on the southside the only way we know how! It’s a family friendly event with something for everyone. We’re flying in multi award winning DJ Kuya James for a live set along with our top local DJ’s, a special appearance from Brisbane’s own rap group Eastmode. We’ve also assembled a killer lineup of the top Brissie talent which alone is worthy of its own festival. The city’s most notorious car crews will be rolling deep with Supercars, JDM’s, Euros and more! PLUS to top it all off, real authentic street food by the southside’s best vendors will have your senses going into overdrive. Make sure you mark February 17 2023 in your calendar and we’ll see you on the Southside!
Free, all ages, no bookings required.
BrisAsia Beats: Metropolis
Saturday 18 February, 5pm – 11pm | Echo & Bounce, 596 Stanley St, Woolloongabba
Join us in the celebration of rhythm and freedom of expression. Metropolis brings together multidisciplinary creators for a night of live performance in auditory and visual art. Hear performances from DJs and producers, while visual artists paint live against the backdrop of an inner-city laneway. Metropolis honours the beating of the drum, modernised by electronic instruments designed and produced in Japan. These instruments altered the history of sound, spreading across oceans and sparking movements in the streets world- wide. This dancing space is an inclusive social zone where individuals of all backgrounds can join in mutual appreciation of the arts, each contributing to the collective energy exchange.
Free, 18+, bookings required.
Visit the Brisbane City Council website for the full BrisAsia Festival program.
BrisAsia Festival is presented by Brisbane City Council, produced by Sounds Across Oceans, with official Media Partner SBS Australia.
